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Spurs record in Europe:-
U.E.F.A Champions League
P W D L F - A
12 5 3 4 25 -19
European Cup
P W D L F - A
8 4 1 3 21 - 13
(Semi-Finalists 1962)
European Cup Winners Cup
P W D L F - A
33 20 5 8 65 - 34
(Winners 1963)
UEFA Cup/Europa League
P W D L F - A
102 58 27 17 207-81
(Winners 1972, 1984
Finalists 1974)
Total
P W D L F - A
155 87 36 32 318-147
Inter's away form appears suspect.
Who can forget Spurs' Champions League meetings with Inter in the Group stage of the 2010/11 Champions League?
We met first in the San Siro on 20th October 2010 (Inter 4 Spurs 3), when there were plenty of glum Spurs faces at half-time as we were 4-0 down after goals by Zanetti, Eto'o (2) and Stankovic. Spurs goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes had been sent off in only the 8th minute, and when eventually Samuel Eto'o fired home the penalty, we were already two down after only 11 minutes.
Mine was one of those glum faces, and it was captured on television, along with my travelling companions. By the end of the game though we were smiling, as a heroic Gareth Bale hat-trick (two of which were scored in the closing minutes) put us in a fighting position for the second leg. The home fans were actually baying for the final whistle, because Spurs (in the shape of the marauding Bale) looked every bit like getting an equaliser had the game lasted another minute or so.
It was the game, and individual performance that put Bale on the World map, and from that moment on, people have speculated about how much longer he would be at Spurs. Well, he's still here nearly two and a half years later, and who's to say he won't be next season, certainly if we qualify for the Champions League?
The home match against Inter, two weeks later was of course, one of the most memorable nights at White Hart Lane, as Bale again starred, but didn't score all our goals. In fact he didn't score at all but the cry of "Taxi for Maicon" was ringing around the stadium as our Gareth made mince-meat of the Brazilian right back and laid on two of Spurs' three goals, as we secured a marvellous 3-1 home win and a precious three points on our way to qualifying for the knock-out phase of the competition.
Inter were the reigning Champions of Europe, and Italy when we met them. They still qualified out of the group phase and were knocked out at the same stage as us in the quarter finals, when they were beaten by Schalke at home and away. Incidentally, our own Lewis Holtby, signed from Schalke, was out on loan to Mainz at the time.
Jose Mourinho had led Inter to those Champions League and Serie A wins, but the manager when we played was Rafa Benitez. Their head coach now, in his first such post, is 37 year old italian Andrea Stramaccioni. Stramaccioni replaced Claudio Ranieri. His playing career was cut short by serious injury, and he was previously Youth Coach at Roma, and for Inter. Stramaccioni was in charge of the Inter U-19 side which played Spurs last season.
Over the last three seasons, Inter have suffered a gradual and slight decline. They finished runners-up to AC Milan in 2010-11, 6th the following season, and they are currently fifth in Serie A. They had another Champions League season, when they were knocked out in Round Two, and had to settle for the Europa League this season.
Inter finished second in their group, led by Rubin Kazan, who beat last year's Europa League winners Athletico Madrid in the Round off 32. Therefore, it is not possible for Spurs to meet the team they beat in the Cup Winners' Cup Final 50 years ago in this year's Europa League Final! Mind you, there is plenty of work yet to be done before we can contemplate that stage of the tournament.
Since we last played Inter, a number of players have left. That man Maicon is now at Man City, although he gets little football there. He was not embarrassed by Bale or any other Spurs player when he came off the bench in our game at The Etihad in November. Eto'o left for the filthy lucre available in Russia with Anzhi. Former Portsmouth man Sulley Muntari has crossed the floor and now plays for AC Milan. He and another former Portsmouth man Kevin Prince Boateng scored against Barcelona recently.
Another high profile deparure from Inter was Wesley Sneijder, who was so impressive in that first game at The San Siro. He now plays for Galatasaray in Turkey. Lucio has gone to Juventus. Goran Pandev is with Napoli.
All this talk of some sort of decline and weakening for Inter is not to suggest that Spurs face an easy task tomorrow night and in the return game next week. After all, Inter have got to this round by beating the Romanian team CFR Cluj 5-0 on aggregate, and they are a team that did play Champions League football this season.
Inter have still got the Argentinean Diego Milito, but he hasn't played since the first game against Cluj, when he had to come off after just 10 minutes. Another Argentinean striker Rodrigo Palacio is in good form at the moment, having scored twice in Sunday's win away to Catania. Palacio replaced Milito in that Cluj game, and scored two goals then as well. The other main goalscoring threat would be 30 year old Italian International Antonio Cassano, who came from AC Milan at the beginning of this season, and has scored 8 goals in all games so far.
Inter were riding high in second place earlier in the season, and they had a run of seven consecutive league wins (10 wins in all competitions) between late September and early November. Since then, they've had some mixed form, particularly away from home, when they've lost 3-0 away to Rubin Kazan in the Europa League group stage, 1-0 to Lazio, 3-0 to Udinese, 2-1 to Roma, 3-1 to Siena, and 4-1 to Fiorentina.
There appears to be a weakness in away form by Inter for Spurs to exploit, and a two goal lead is surely the minimum objective for Andre Villas-Boas tomorrow. Will another Inter player be subject to the "Taxi" calls tomorrow? of course there is more to Spurs than Gareth Bale, but he will be the man to watch. It's good news to know that Mousa Dembele is fit for tomorrow, despite hobbling off on Sunday. Despite the doubt about Adebayor, Jermain defoe looked pretty sharp to me when he came on against Arsenal, and with him ahead of the midfield, there is every chance that Spurs will play some quick, sharp football.
The officials for tomorrow night's game are all from Spain, led by referee Antonio Lahoz.
It should be a great atmosphere, and I do fancy Spurs to get that two goal lead to defend at The San Siro next week.
COME ON YOU SPURS!
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